It was easy to fix, but getting a fix on the location was not so easy

THE PROBLEM: Bethney DeView first noticed a broken sprinkler head in Mission Bay Park in August or September, and it was a few weeks before she realized that if anyone was going to report it, it was going to have to be her.

Located near an Interstate 5 offramp, the fixture was installed along a fence at the bottom of a slope between Sea World Drive and East Mission Bay Drive, virtually impossible to spot from either street. DeView and a group of three other women who walk past it three times a week could see from the sidewalk that the sprinkler head was spewing out quite a bit of water, all day every day.

DeView called the San Diego Water Department and was asked for a street address, which was hard to come by in this case. She tried again in late November and got assurances the problem would be addressed, but by Dec. 21 nothing had been done.

“The birds love it,” DeView said. But the ice plant lining the fence certainly doesn’t require around-the-clock irrigation, and it appears most of the flow was simply draining into Mission Bay’s Pacific Passage.

STATUS: Just Fix It messaged the San Diego Park & Recreation Department on Monday with a photograph and a pinpoint description of the location. Scarcely two hours later, a parks official responded with word that the slope actually was under the jurisdiction of the state transportation agency.

Mission Bay Park staff passed along our information to Caltrans, and within 24 hours the sprinkler was shut off permanently, said Caltrans spokesman Hayden Manning. “We just don’t need water there,” Manning said.

NEED A PROBLEM SOLVED: Is there a problem government hasn’t taken care of despite your complaints? Whether it’s a clogged storm drain or broken park equipment anywhere in San Diego County, Just Fix It might be able to help.